


A Show of Quiet Competence

by Omenthia_Arc



Series: Guns Blazing [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Crack, Gen, He's a worrier, Humour, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Natasha being an idiot, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve worries, also barely edited, badass!Tony Stark, like come on guys, no beta-we die like men, steve being an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29012034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omenthia_Arc/pseuds/Omenthia_Arc
Summary: Steve is insistent that Bruce and Tony should learn self-defence. Even better, learn how to shoot. Natasha agrees. Somehow they both manage to forget that if anyone knows how to use a gun, it would be the guy who built them for years.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner & Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Guns Blazing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185434
Comments: 4
Kudos: 113





	A Show of Quiet Competence

Steve honestly has no idea how it happened. It just kind of …did. He, at least, can claim that he had known Tony only afterwards, but he also knows that it is blatantly ignorant for a team leader not to be intimately familiar with all the skills of his team.

Plus, he _had_ been briefed. Right at the beginning, before everything, he had been briefed about every potential member of the Avengers, and while Tony Stark had, in theory, not been on the list, Iron Man had been, as Tony himself had been as a high-ranking consultant. Natasha on the other hand really had no excuse. She had been working for SI while they were still getting rid of all the production machines for the weapons.

So really, there was no reason this should have happened.

It did anyway.

Steve was a worrier; he knew that about himself.

He worried constantly about the people he cared about – hell, it was the whole reason Captain America had ever left the show stages. Nowadays that meant he worried about the Avengers, but especially about Bruce and Tony.

They were both brilliant minds, but they were not like the rest of the team. They didn’t have the same kind of training and superpowers that the rest of the team could fall back on. Their gimmicks – for want of a better word – were either hugely unreliable or not a power at all, but a suit of armor – a beautifully terrifying suit, don’t get him wrong, but still only a suit. He was plagued with thoughts of what might happen if someone went after the team one day and the Hulk wouldn’t want to come out or Tony didn’t have the suit with him. That couldn’t happen, it just couldn’t. Tony and Bruce, as brilliant as they were, were their weakest links – their most obvious vulnerabilities – and he could never allow either of them to get hurt.

Of course, the whole team had each other’s back, but that wasn’t enough. No, he wanted the two scientists to learn self-defence techniques, better even, teach them shooting, give them a gun. It would only be for the utmost emergencies, but it would give Steve at least a little peace of mind. If only the two weren’t so stubborn about refusing.

Bruce was one thing. Steve could understand his reluctance, especially about the idea of carrying a gun. He still had a more than complicated relationship with his angry side, was still terrified of how much damage the Hulk could do in a matter of minutes. The thought that Bruce Banner might become similarly destructive was understandably an idea he wasn’t partial to. After a few conversations he had agreed to at least take self-defence classes with Natasha – sadly, he wasn’t very good at it.

But Tony. God, Tony could make him explode with his blatant disregard for his own safety. The first time Steve had brought the topic up with him, he had just stared blankly at Steve and then said that that was why he had the suit.

“What if one day you don’t have the suit. Just one day would be enough.”

“I take the suit everywhere, Steve. This is a really redundant conversation and I have work to do, so I’m gonna leave now.”

Steve wasn’t giving up that easily. “Even if you have the suit. What if they somehow disable it?”

“Who is they, Steve? God, you sound like Howard during the cold war. There is no they!”

“Not yet!” He walked a little faster to keep pace with Tony. How was he this fast on legs that short? Didn’t matter now. “Listen, Tony. The Avengers will be operating very publicly. “

Tony actually snorted at that. “I think I can handle a little limelight, Cap, I’ve been doing that since I was around four years old.”

“Not my point!” He almost ran into the smaller man as he swirled around on his heels. For some reason Tony looked angry, but Steve couldn’t say what he had done. Wasn’t he allowed to worry now?

“Then what-” Yep, Tony was definitively seething, his voice had gone all sharp and low and dangerous. “What, do tell, is your point? Because I’m growing a little impatient here.”

“My _point_ is that we will be in the public eye a lot, and that leaves us a very convenient target for acts of revenge.” Jesus, he had been talking way to loud. He needed to calm down or Tony would never agree to anything he asked of him; they had this annoying habit to ignore what the other was saying and focus entirely on _how_ it was being said – taking it as a challenge in more than half the cases.

“Look. I’m just worried, alright? There might not be a ‘they’ yet, but there will be. What if they surprise you on the one day you don’t have the suit? Or if you have it, but they use something to disable it?”

“Well, then I still have my boxing lessons with Happy.” For some reason he sounded deeply sarcastic and that rubbed Steve the wrong way. Before he could say something, though, Tony was already off again and Steve was making ridiculously long steps to catch up.

“No offence, but I’ve seen Happy box.”

“Don’t let him hear that, you’re gonna break his heart.” For a second he felt guilty. Happy was a good man and he had overseen Tony’s security for years. He knew the man took his job serious, but he simply didn’t have the skills needed here. So, Steve sidestepped the bait Tony had lain out to distract him and kept talking. “I want you to train with the Widow. Maybe take some shooting lessons. A gun would be something to defend yourself with until one of us can get through to you.”

At the mention of shooting lessons, Tony had stopped like he had run into a wall and for a moment Steve hoped he had caught the other’s interest, or at least his curiosity, which was almost as good. Then he rounded on Tony and saw the man gaping incredulously at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again. "Shooting lessons? Are you serious?" and with that he turned around and stepped into the elevator. Steve winced a little. He shouldn’t have brought up shooting. Tony made no secret out of the fact that he didn’t like guns.

Steve didn’t give up, though. Every once in a while, he would ask Tony to take his own security more seriously. The only thing Tony ever did was roll his eyes at him, laugh or just walk away. It was infuriating.

He knew that Tasha was trying, too. They occasionally tried to talk to him together about the whole thing, but he looked at Tasha even more offended and even more incredulous than he did when Steve broached the subject. The best concession they had ever been able to get out of the man was one day, when they had cornered him in the kitchen.

They had been talking about getting him on the range, letting him at least get a little used to guns, when he had snapped.

“You know what, guys? I’ll come to the range and shoot as soon as Bruce does.” He had gestured at the man in question, who had stood behind them, making tea.

Bruce had looked up as soon as his name had been dropped and was already shaking his head when Steve and Nat looked at him with intention. “I am sorry, guys, but you have my answer already.”

“It’s for Tony’s protection as much as yours, though.” Tasha argued. She was still not entirely comfortable with Bruce’s refusal to learn. Especially since he hadn’t gotten an better with the self-defence.

“It is a waste of time, Natasha. I will not be made into more of a weapon than I already am. And Tony- well, like I said, a waste of time.”

While Tasha kept talking to Bruce, Steve turned around to try Tony again, but the genius had used the distraction to disappear.

After that, they had concentrated on Bruce. It had become clear that Tony would not give in, but he also wouldn’t go back on his word, that much they were sure of. Steve felt bad about the way they kept asking Bruce. He knew that he was annoying the man, but if this was the only chance to get both of them on the range, then he was okay with being a little bit of an arsehole.

It took still two more months until finally Bruce agreed. It was Natasha that had convinced him in the end. In the beginning, when it had still been a little bit of a competition about who would succeed fist, he would have been a little sore about that. Right now, he was just relieved.

Just after Bruce had said yes, Tony came into the kitchen. They didn’t even have to say a word. He took one look at their triumphant faces and at Bruce, who looked a little deflated, a little apologetic. He nodded. Lifted his coffee in a greeting. “So, you finally gave in, did you?” he asked. He didn’t sound mad, not even disappointed. Just a little amused, really.

Bruce shrugged. “Sorry. They’re just really persistent.”

“It’s alright. I knew it was gonna happen sooner rather than later. Shouldn’t have dragged you into this.” He took a breath and put the mug down. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Without even waiting for someone else to say something, he turned and made his way to the small range that he had built a few floors down.

The others had to hurry to keep up with him.

When they made it through the door, Steve kept a close eye on his friends. He might have been willing to be an arsehole to get them down here, but he wasn’t really crazy about being an arsehole about keeping them here, that would help no one.

Bruce seemed tense, but calm enough. Clearly not really happy to be there, but he didn’t have to be. He just had to stay long enough to learn not to kill himself when he had a gun in his hands.

Tony on the other hand- Tony was on edge. His shoulders were as straight as anything. His hole body painfully upright. His hands were flexing in a way that was worrying. Tony – somehow – had always absolute control over his hands. Steve was getting worried now. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. But he also knew that the nightmarish imaginations of Tony or Bruce getting taken, or _killed,_ because they hadn’t trained for such a situation enough wouldn’t go away on their own. So, he grit his teeth and sucked it up.

Natasha took up the position behind the table full of guns. They had said from the beginning that she would do the teaching. Steve was a decent enough shot, but he lacked the patience to be a good teacher.

Tasha demonstrated gun safety and the correct stance for shooting. Then she turned to her two pupils and arched a brow.

“Who wants to go first?”

Bruce tensed up a little more, so Tony took a step forward. Steve smiled at that. He wasn’t the only one protective of his friends.

“I’ll go. The sooner you’ll let me get my hands on that thing, the sooner this’ll be over.”

Tasha stepped around the table to assist him, but he shook his head.

“It really isn’t that hard, Nat.” She stepped back again but kept a close eye on Tony.

The man stood in front of the table, looking at the weapons as if he could read in them.

So fast that Steve almost missed it, he grabbed one of the guns, dismantled it, put it back together again. Before either of them could make a sound, he placed himself in front of one of the targets.

BAM.BAM.BAM.BAM.BAM.

Five shots, five bullets right in the head of the paper target.

He put the weapon down, picked up another. Six shots this time. All hit the exact same spot as the previous ones.

Silence rang.

There was nothing Steve could say. He could only stare.

He could barely understand what just happened.

This had been. He didn’t know what that had been.

Damn impressive, for one. He wasn’t sure if even Tasha could hit the same number of bullets all through the same hole in the paper. Not in that time. Clint, probably. Bucky definitively would have managed it. Not anyone else he knew, though.

Tony looked like he had done nothing special. He simply put the second gun down next to the first. Took one look around the room, grinning only the slightest bit.

Then he left.

Steve stared after him, as did Tasha.

“I- what?” was all he could get out.

Bruce chuckled lightly. He had not left his mug in the kitchen and was now trying rather unsuccessfully to hide his own bright smile behind it. When he finally realised that it was a pointless endeavour, he lowered the mug. “You guys do know that he designed at least half of the guns you got there, right? How did you think he did that if he didn’t know the ins and outs of it? Did you think he let someone else shoot them to test them out?”

He turned to leave, too, before turning around a last time. “We don’t need this kind of training because we use our heads for more than ramming them through open doors,” he said, still grinning.

“So, you still won’t learn?”

Bruce’s smile turned a little softer. “No, Steve. Guns don’t really add to a calm mind. Not for me at least. And that is far more important for my safety then knowing how to do that.” He pointed at the targets Tony had used. Then he left.

**Author's Note:**

> I think this might qaulify as a little ooc? Not enough to put in the tags, though. Just the fact that normally Tony would probs be pretty vocal about how ridiculous Steve and Nat are being when they ask him to learn how to shoot.  
> Maybe one day I'll edit this a bit more, but for now, it will stay like this.


End file.
